Fighting for Space

by Amy Shira Teitel

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  Author’s Note

  In writing this book, I visited multiple archives and museums, spoke to experts, and dug up ephemera to create as complex characters as I could without taking any liberties with reality. As such, all the dialogue in this book comes from memoirs, interviews, radio transcripts, press releases, and recalled conversations. In rare instances, I modified direct quotes to avoid repetition, but I show these skips with ellipses. Only minor edits have been made to source material such as spelling out a numeral for the sake of consistent style throughout the manuscript. If I preserved a spelling error—like the loaded error of Jackie misspelling Jerrie’s name as “Jerry”—I left out the traditional [sic] so it was less obtrusive to the reader. Overall, I took great pains to preserve everyone’s meaning and intention. To avoid having 1,216 footnotes, all sources are listed by chapter in the bibliography.

  I was lucky in writing this book that I had ample primary source material to work with, but this brought up an interesting quandary. Memories fade and one person’s recollection of a conversation might differ from someone else’s, so memoirs, interviews, and various other writings don’t necessarily line up with a verifiable historical record. Both Jackie and Jerrie wrote multiple memoirs, which is a wonderful source for details of their personal lives, but they also introduce what I’ve come to call the “Jackie version” or the “Jerrie version” as the case may be, and I need to draw attention to certain moments where I know or suspect we’re dealing with their “versions” of a story.

  When Jackie meets Floyd on page 18, she claims she had no idea who he was, but it’s quite possible she knew exactly who he was and maneuvered her way into meeting him. On page 38 when Jackie recounts the story of Cecil Allen’s beheading before her first Bendix race in 1935, I know that’s a Jackie version. Cecil Allen did die that night, but he crashed in a potato field in front of two witnesses, and Jackie was not one of them; she had taken off before Cecil and would only have read about the crash after her own flight. Jumping ahead to Al Shepard’s 1961 Freedom 7 mission, Jackie writes in a letter that she served as an official timer on the mission but there is no NASA source to back that up.

  While Jerrie’s romance with Jack Ford is incredible, there is some evidence that Jack was married with children at the time. On page 133, Jerrie recounts that she was released from her Ecuadorian imprisonment after twelve days. That’s the figure she gives in her 1963 memoir, but writing in 1997, she says she was freed after just two days. Jerrie’s first memoir is also my source for saying she spent nine hours in Dr. Shurley’s isolation tank on page 216, but there’s speculation she didn’t actually last that long.

  I chose to leave these anecdotes for two simple reasons: they don’t change the core story I’m telling about women in space and I felt strongly about wanting to honor how these women saw themselves. I don’t care that Jackie didn’t see Cecil Allen die, I care that the story became part of her personal narrative and underscores her fearlessness. We can’t forget that “Jackie Cochran” was Bessie Pittman living as an ideal version of herself, so those stories say so much about the woman she chose to be and are important for understanding her character. With Jerrie, I wanted you to feel her pride in the isolation tank run, because even if she didn’t last nine hours it was still a feat of mental fortitude she took great pride in. I don’t care about Jack Ford potentially having a family because it was the feelings and effects of Jerrie falling in love that matter most.

  I chose to put all this in the final author’s note rather than footnotes in the text, which was my initial approach, because I didn’t want to impact your experience meeting and reading about these women. Heroic tales are so often mixed with adrenaline, ego, heartbreak, elation, fear, and hope. This one is no exception and I didn’t want to remove any of the important emotional elements. And after all, how many men can honestly say they never inflated a story to make it “better”? Our women, at the end of the day, are simply human.

  Acknowledgments

  It’s fitting that this book about two badass women wouldn’t have been possible without two amazing women in my own life. First and foremost, my agent, Eve Attermann, who encouraged me to pursue this story and refused to let me send out a mediocre proposal. Second, my editor, Gretchen Young, who came in at the eleventh hour and worked to get this book done well and on time. It’s very fitting that all facets of this book were done by women. Additional thanks to Jesseca Salky for navigating the scary legal end of things, Haley Weaver for making sure details didn’t slip through the cracks, and Jeaneen Lund for making me look awesome.

  Writing this book hinged on a lot of archival research. A world of thanks to Kevin Bailey, Kathy Struss, and the staff at the Eisenhower Presidential Library; Alexis Percle and the staff at the Johnson Presidential Library; Colin Fries and Liz Suckow in the NASA archives; Emily Mathay at the Kennedy Presidential Library; Dara Baker at the Roosevelt Presidential Library; Michael Sharaba at the International Women’s Air and Space Museum; and Dallas Hanbury in the Montgomery County Probate Office.

  A handful of people helped by filling in some blanks through interviews, some directly related to my research and others more informational. Thank you to Gene Nora Jessen, Jeremy Hanson, Reid Weisman, and Robert Pearlman for talking through various pieces of this narrative with me. A special thank you to Francis French for not only reading multiple drafts of my manuscript but for sharing his own archives with me, answering endless questions, and generally serving as a sounding board for ideas both good and bad. With a project like this that consumes your whole life, there are also people who don’t know they played a part in helping get you through to the finish line. Justin Carter; Jason Han, Allister Buchanan, and the whole Healthfit team; Coach Joe Del Real; Geoffrey Notkin; Jeff Kluger; Matt Wood—you kept me sane, healthy, motivated, inspired, or otherwise feeling like I could keep tackling the insanity that is writing a book.

  And finally, my family. Pete Conrad (the cat) for sitting on my desk nuzzling support every day. My parents for the ongoing gift of my education as well as your support and willingness to read multiple drafts as I went along. And finally, to Merrick. Putting up with someone writing a book is all the stress of being an author without the fun of living in a world. Thank you for letting me rant and vent, for encouraging my collecting of Jackie ephemera, and generally loving me through this whole messy process.

  Bibliography

  Preface

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  Crouch, Tom. A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age. New York: W. W. Norton, 2004.

  Spenser, Jay. The Airplane: How Ideas Gave Us Wings. Washington, DC: Smithsonian, 2008.

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  Dicker, Rory. A History of U.S. Feminisms. Berkeley: Seal Press, 2016.

  Chapter 1

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  Rich, Doris L. Jackie Cochran: Pilot in the Fastest Lane. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2007.

  Cochran, Jacqueline. The Stars at Noon. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1954.

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  Cochran, Jacquel
ine and Maryann Bucknum Brinley. Jackie Cochran: The Autobiography of the Greatest Woman Pilot in Aviation History. New York: Bantam Books, 1987.

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  Chapter 2

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  “1928—More Early Sound Footage of New York City.” guy jones, accessed September 25, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv1vRs3l2ek.

  Cochran, The Stars at Noon.

  Rich, Doris L. Jackie Cochran: Pilot in the Fastest Lane. University of Florida Press, Gainsville, 2007.

  Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran: The Autobiography of the Greatest Woman Pilot in Aviation History.

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  Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

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  “First Lady of the Air Lanes.” New York Times, September 25, 1938.

  Chapter 3

  Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran: The Autobiography of the Greatest Woman Pilot in Aviation History.

  Rich, Jackie Cochran: Pilot in the Fastest Lane.

  “Easterner Here to Become Pilot.” San Diego Union, Friday, October 7, 1932.

  “Mrs. Odlum Gets Nevada Divorce.” New York Times, October 8, 1935.

  “Salton Sea State Recreation Area.” California Department of Parks and Recreation. Accessed August 20, 2019. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=639.

  “Portion of ‘The Stars at Noon’ Concerning Cosmetics.” Jacqueline Cochran: Papers, 1932–1975. Stars at Noon Series. Box 6. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

  “JC Book Chapter _____.” Jacqueline Cochran: Papers, 1932–1975. Stars at Noon Series. Box 6. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

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  Thurman, Judith. “Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight.” The New Yorker, September 7, 2009. Accessed October 15, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/09/14/missing-woman.

  “The Amelia I Knew.” 1949. Jacqueline Cochran: Papers, 1932–1975. Articles Series. Box 1. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

  “Chapter IV.” Jacqueline Cochran: Papers, 1932–1975. Stars at Noon Series. Box 6. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

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  “Bendix Trophy.” Air Racing History, accessed April 4, 2018. http://www.air-racing-history.com/Between%20the%20wars(2).htm.

  “Speedy Allen Plane Plunges into Field.” New York Times, August 30, 1935. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/08/31/93481313.pdf.

  Chapter 4

  Cochran, The Stars at Noon.

  Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran: The Autobiography of the Greatest Woman Pilot in Aviation History.

  Rich, Jackie Cochran: Pilot in the Fastest Lane.

  “Seversky Sets East-West Flight Record of 10 Hours 3 Minutes in Bendix Race Plane.” New York Times. August 30, 1938.

  “Seversky P-35.” Military Factory, accessed August 17, 2018. https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=730.

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  Elliott, Richard G. “On a Comet Always.” New Mexico Quarterly. Winter 1966–67. Lovelace, Dr. W. Randolph Folder. NASA Archives.

  “Jacqueline Cochran (USA).” Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, accessed October 10, 2018. https://www.fai.org/record/12026.

  “Merrill, Jean Batten Win Harmon Award.” New York Times, Friday, February 18, 1938. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/02/18/98099198.pdf.

  “TWA History.” TWA Museum, accessed August 17, 2018. http://twamuseum.com/htdocs/twahistory2.htm.

  “Bendix Trophy.” Air Racing History, accessed April 4, 2018. http://www.air-racing-history.com/Between%20the%20wars(2).htm.

  “Miss Cochran Wins Fast Bendix Race.” New York Times, September 4, 1938.

  “The Seversky P-35-Predecessor of the P-47 Thunderbolt.” Fiddlers Green, accessed August 17, 2018. http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/models/aircraft/Seversky-P35.html.

  “Miss Cochran First at Bendix Also.” New York Times, September 4, 1938.

  “Miss Cochran Wins Bendix Race; Close to Record.” New York Times, September 4, 1938.

  “The Cleveland Races: A Longer Course, Higher Danger, and Better Speeds.” Newsweek, September 12, 1938.

  “First Lady of the Air Lanes.” New York Times, September 25, 1938.

  “Chapter IV.” Jacqueline Cochran: Papers, 1932–1975. Stars at Noon Series. Box 6. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

  “Harper’s Bazaar Insert. November 1939.” Jacqueline Cochran: Papers, 1932–75. Business Series. Box 7. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

  Newsweek. Volume XII, No. 11. September 12, 1938.

  Cobb, Jerrie and Jane Rieker. Woman into Space: The Jerrie Cobb Story. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: P
rentice-Hall International, Inc., 1963.29

  Chapter 5

  Cochran, The Stars at Noon.

  Cochran and Brinley, Jackie Cochran: The Autobiography of the Greatest Woman Pilot in Aviation History.

  Rich, Jackie Cochran: Pilot in the Fastest Lane.

  Cobb and Rieker, Woman into Space: The Jerrie Cobb Story.

  “1028 Lectures on Aeronautics.” Flying and Popular Aviation, September, 1940. Accessed October 16, 2018. https://books.google.com/books?id=acokk-XqWvgC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=National+Aeronautic+Association+William+Enyart&source=bl&ots=QXc3GptUSI&sig=wEmIDUw1gaz6V_5mjEk1Wrzv-rY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjRt66OvI3eAhUMvlMKHWz3Ae4Q6AEwDXoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q=National%20Aeronautic%20Association%20William%20Enyart&f=false.

  Transcript, “Jacqueline Cochran Oral History Interview I by Joe B. Frantz.” July 4, 1974. Lyndon Baines Johnson Library.

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  “Nomination Guidelines for the Colliers Trophy.” National Aeronautic Association, accessed May 19, 2019. https://naa.aero/awards/awards-and-trophies/collier-trophy.